Cheltenham Racecourse has created a working party of southwest business tourism partners in a bid to encourage events to the Regency town and its surrounding areas.
Members of the working party include hotel chains Hotel du Vin, Q Hotels, Puma Hotels and the privately owned Ellenborough Park, along with leading tourism bodies Cotswold Tourism and Cheltenham Tourism.
Areas of discussion for the agenda include bedroom allocations, maximising the number of delegates visiting the district and long term collaborative promotion of the destination to domestic and inbound event buyers.
Cheltenham Racecourse has created a buoyant revenue stream for non-race day activity that now accounts for an excess of 10% of its annual turnover. Its prime position, close to two of the UK’s major routes the M4 and M5, make the racecourse highly accessible and equidistant from London, Bristol and Birmingham, whilst also boasting one of the largest footfalls in the southwest.
The committee will meet bi-monthly to set a long term strategy to promote the area to corporates, agents and business event organisers.
Susie Bradshaw, conference and events manager at Cheltenham Racecourse, said: “Our collaborative approach is to help assert the Cotswolds as not just a leisure destination but one that means business too”.
